• BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
    7·
    2 days ago

    We think that birds are only singing to communicate with other birds, but why wouldn’t they sing just for the fun of it? They seem to fly just for the enjoyment of it.

    If I could be an animal, I’d be a bird. They seem to enjoy their lives more than most other animals I see, other than a pampered dog or cat.

    • TheEmpireStrikesDak@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      4·
      1 day ago

      It’s called subsong. I had a handtame robin who used to sit in our rose bushes and sing quietly when I was around. He knew what he was doing. He went to town with the breeding because he knew all it took was a look at me with his big eyes and this mug would give him a free supply of mealworms all summer.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
        8·
        1 day ago

        I think I have to tell my favorite bird story.

        I used to have a glorious organic garden, and I would work in it almost every day. One day, as I was turning a bed for the next crop, a Robin sat on the edge of another bed watching me. When I stepped back to take a break, he hopped over to where I’d been working, and pulled up a big worm.

        I went back to work, and he continued to watch me. Occasionally I’d toss him a worm. After that, he’d show up whenever I’d work, for a free meal.

        One day, I got started, and my buddy showed up. He called quietly, in that little warbling chortle that they do, and a female robin hopped out from behind the neighbor’s fence. She spotted me, and became immediately agitated, but he chortled lightly, and she settled down, eyeing me warily.

        I got to work, and tossed him a worm, which startled her. He gulped it down as she watched. Then I tossed a worm to her, startling her again, but less. She carefully approached the worm and ate. After that she settled down, and enjoyed her dinner

        My Robin friend had gone out and got himself a date, and brought her to his favorite restaurant, where he’s friends with the head chef. What a BALLER move!

        • TheEmpireStrikesDak@thelemmy.clubEnglish
          3·
          23 hours ago

          Ahhh! Robins are great and well known for following gardeners around. Cheeky little things. Mine was also savage and used to chase his mate out the garden sometimes (there was a slight difference in their appearance, so I could distinguish them by looks alone). And he used to chase away his fledgelings once they were old enough to be independent. They had about 4 broods, I think I bought 2 or 3 kg of mealworms that season. His mate sat on my fingers a few times but I usually had to look away. Males are much easier to tame.


          The male is on the left, female on the right.

          I had a tame great tit for about 2 years who would yell at me as soon as I went outside. He’d sit on the shed or washing line and be like, “Well? My chicks are hungry.” If the shed door was open, he’d hop inside onto the worm tub and tell me to hurry up. He couldn’t open the worm tub himself haha. I’d call him and he’d come flying onto the tree. I even got his fledgelings to sit on my fingers like you do with budgies. I had him 2 or 3 years before some upstart stole his territory and he and his mate abandoned their nest a few days before the chicks were due to fledge. The nest was on my neighbours’ property but I wish I had been brave enough to ask if I could retrieve the nest and try to raise them the last few days (I’m autistic and I think I was mute at the time). Instead I could hear them chirping for food every day until eventually they all went quiet :(

          I had a semi tame male blackbird, he’d come for the mealworms when I called him. I’d point to where I’d put the worms that day (I’d move them around) and he’d hop straight over. He and my previous tame blackbird both got killed by a cat :(

          Have you heard of green manure and no-dig gardening?

        • EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          1 day ago

          Alright I’m down to join in. I had a job about an hour out from home, and would always take lunch around 4pm. I’d go park near work in a mostly empty parking lot and blast music while eating, and one day a crow showed up just looking around and stayed nearby.

          I talked to it for awhile, and threw some food for it just to try to share, but it wasn’t touched until I looked away.

          The next day I brought some unsalted peanuts, and they seemed more interested, and there were now three crows

          Eventually rotated to cat food, had about with birds waiting/hanging out with me. They learned my face and recognized my car, I had one song I would always play and they would know it was lunchtime recognizing all of these. Absolute love, and I’ve never had a better friendly encounter with nature.

  • LurkingLuddite@piefed.socialEnglish
    14·
    2 days ago

    Or mumbling to itself, “what the hell is this human putting in my face? What does this giant animal want with me?”